Donald E. Polkinghorne is Emeritus Professor and Chair of Counseling Psychology at the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California. He is the author of Methodology for the Human Sciences: Systems of Inquiry and Practice and the Human Sciences: The Case for a Judgment-Based Practice of Care, both also published by SUNY Press.

"This book speaks to a raging controversy that has significance for a variety of fields. I know of no other book that is so integrative and clarifying of what the issues are and how they arose." — Seymour Sarason, Yale University

• Preface I. Introduction The realms of human existenceThe study of narrative meaningThe plan of the book II. Narrative Expression The term "narrative"The pervasiveness of narrativesSuppositions about human experienceThe narrative schemeNarrative and languageNarrative as discourseNarrative expression III. History and Narrative History and formal scienceAnalytic philosophy and historyNarrative and French historiographyHistory as explanatory discourseHistory as narrative discourseHistorical narrativesRicoeur on narrative and history IV. Literature and Narrative Prestructural American criticismStructuralism and narrativeWritten narratives and point of viewReception theory V. Psychology and Narrative The history of narrative study in psychologySelf-NarrativeNarrative competenceLife-span developmentFreudian psychoanalysis and narrativeOrganizational Consultation VI. Human Existence and Narrative Narrative and temporalityAction and narrativeNarrative and the self VII. Practice and Narrative Human experience as narrativeResearch with narrativePsychotherapyConclusion Notes References Index